Frozen doughs are desirable for commercial and home baking because they minimize preparation time and are easy to use. Such ready-to-bake doughs should be storage stable when frozen and should provide baked products having good organoleptic qualities and aesthetic appeal. Examples of frozen doughs include those described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,847,104; 4,966,778; 5,447,738; 5,560,946; 5,254,351; and in PCT Application WO 96/34530.
Frozen doughs come in a variety of different product types, e.g., based on the steps required to prepare a baked product from the dough. As background, dough products can require expansion during baking, and can also require proofing, i.e., allowing the dough to sit to allow yeast to produce carbon dioxide that expands the dough prior to and during baking. Many frozen doughs operate on this principle, with yeast as a leavening agent. When using typical yeast-leavened frozen doughs, a consumer will thaw the bread out of the freezer, allow the bread to sit (i.e., proof) for a time sufficient for the bread to produce carbon dioxide that will expand during baking, and then, finally, bake the bread. The steps of thawing and proofing can be very time-consuming. When preparing these types of frozen doughs, designed for preparation by a consumer by thawing, proofing, and then baking, it is generally preferred to avoid allowing yeast to metabolize prior to freezing, to enhance storage stability and to allow substantial leavening during baking.
Other types of frozen doughs are designed to remove or reduce the amount of time a consumer spends between freezer and oven. Some frozen dough products are sold “pre-proofed,” which means that the dough is allowed to rise before freezing. Pre-proofed doughs have several drawbacks. Pre-proofed doughs can be expensive because a proofing step must be performed during the manufacturing process, and, such doughs can require a significant amount of storage space. Moreover, pre-proofed doughs can be susceptible to damage by temperature fluctuations, the formation of ice crystals, and mechanical stresses.
As another alternative, some frozen doughs are not pre-proofed but include chemical leavening agents and do not require a proofing step. These dough compositions use chemical leavening agents instead of yeast. The chemical leavening agent operates differently from yeast. While yeast requires time after thawing and prior to baking, for sitting at ambient temperature to produce carbon dioxide, a chemical leavening agent produces a gas at baking temperature, during baking, to expand the dough. The dough may or may not require thawing between the freezer and oven.
Some types of frozen dough products, especially pre-proofed, yeast-leavened, frozen dough products, are sometimes sold in modified-atmosphere packaging. The packaging can include an inert gas such as nitrogen or carbon dioxide to prevent oxidation of the frozen dough and to maintain a high concentration of carbon dioxide in the frozen dough to minimize loss of carbon dioxide from the dough during storage and for expansion of the dough during baking. Modified atmosphere packaging has drawbacks such as added cost and complexity.
There is a continuing need to provide new methods and compositions useful in producing frozen dough products. Especially desirable would be methods and compositions capable of producing a frozen dough composition that can be stored frozen without first being proofed or partially baked, especially that can also provide a desirable baked dough product without being thawed or proofed after freezing and before being baked. Most preferably, either or both of these goals might desirably be met without the need for chemical leaveners or modified atmosphere packaging.